re: Honing the Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

Get a friggen knife and cut your own seasoning. That Guidrys seasoning doesn't brown like fresh onions, garlic and celery. Also it has garlic in it, garlic gets bitter when you brown it.

Everything else sounds good.

man you gotta go with fresh trinity. those chopped Guidry's onions have lost a lot of flavor sitting in the container for a few days. also the guidrys mixture is off. you should have 50% onions, 25% bell pepper, 25% celery.

and brown your sausage.

and this:

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garlic gets bitter when you brown it.

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When I make my stock I add already smoked turkey necks and after about an hour remove from water, let cool then remove meat from bones. Add it back to the gumbo when adding chicken and sausage.

I love the taste of both chicken and smoked turkey.

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So when should I add garlic? And in what form ?

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I will usually add my minced garlic once my vegetables have browned enough. It does indeed get bitter once it burns.
With regards to seasonings / herbs, I have used white pepper from time to time, also used thyme, tarragon (sparingly) and oregano a time or 2.
ALWAYS cut your own vegetables. Sure, it takes a bit of time, but it helps to improve your knife skills and I enjoy the process.

Agree with the others that fresh-cut aromatics (onion, bell pepper, celery) are so much better than the pre chopped. Onions, especially, quickly fade in strength & subtlety, leaving only the most acrid oniony aromas. I like to use part green and part red or yellow peppers for appearance, and because the colored peppers are a bit sweeter.

In a chicken gumbo, I would not consider thyme an exotic spice. It is a natural, as is a pinch of sage and 4-6 fresh bay leaves (fish out the bay leaves before serving). I will add a little spanish smoked paprika (aka pimenton) for flavor & to enrich the gumbo's color. While I love coriander's lemony flavors, I don't use it in my chix/sausage gumbo. Ditto for saffron--it's too bloody expensive not to use in a dish where it's the focus or a key element (like paella).

Other suggestions:
--brown the sausage first, on the side. Use a little of the sausage grease in your roux.
--add garlic twice. Assuming you brown your celery/bell pepper after you've added the onions to a hot roux, go ahead and cook until the veg wilt a bit, then add the garlic & brown for a bit until fragrant & add the stock. Then, add more garlic after the gumbo's simmered for a good long while & is no longer foaming. Note: I mean fresh, you chopped it yourself garlic, not the crap from a jar.
--use celery tops in addition to celery stalks.
--like others have implied, the quality of your sausage matters. Get something you like, without those cardboardy fake casings that just seem to get tougher after cooking in a gumbo.
--just before declaring it "done", add some acid: I usually use fresh lemon juice, but a splash of cider vinegar or rice wine vinegar will do the same thing. Acid will brighten & balance the rich sausage flavors.
--Add finely chopped fresh parsley & green onion tops after you've skimmed off the fat. Green, vegetal contrast adds some bitter/sharp notes & is pleasing to the eye.

Keep on cooking, and you'll figure out what you like best. Gumbo is an ever evolving thing.

Thank you!

I am not here to start a fight. But I have done a Gumbo test with some picky people before:

I made one with homemade roux, homemade stock, and freshly chopped trinity

I made one with jarred roux, boxed stock, and Guidrys


The consensus were both were delicious and nobody could differentiate between the two.

TIFWIW

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I made one with jarred roux, boxed stock, and Guidrys

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My nearly sainted sister makes her chicken/sausage/oyster gumbo w/Savoie's roux & prechopped veg. It is damn delicious, though she doesn't use nearly as much 'green stuff' as I like in my version.

I'm with you on a premade roux--no one can tell the difference. But the prechopped veg never has enough bell pepper for me.

I mentioned this the other day in the Prejean's thread.

Don't add salt to your stock. Instead add chicken soup base (I like Better Than Bouillon) until you get the flavor you want. It's like using double strength stock.

ETA: Concur on the lemon juice, parsley and green onions at the end.

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what sausage do you use

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Stop in Lake Charles if you're on I-10 for Rabideaux Sausage